American Idol 4, February 22: Hits and the Misses

Nadia Turner, "(There’s) The Power of Love"

Randy - "Props to you for staying true to who you are... you came out here and rocked it... that was excellent!"

Paula - "You look great... I was really surprised, I had no idea you had that in you! I really love it!"

Simon - "The antidote of karaoke hell... what I loved about you this evening was you decided not to play safe... you said I’m original and I’m here to win, and I congratulate you."

Sting7 - You know, I’ve seen plenty of polls and message boards of people proclaiming their favorites, and no one ever mentions Nadia. They will now! Outstanding work. This is a prime example of performance over nit-picking notes. She had a couple of rough ones, but so what? She was in complete control of the stage. You could not take your eyes off her! That’s a star, people – get off the perfect notes, you’re missing the point.

Celena Rae, "I Will Love Again"

Randy - "It’s interesting... it was very safe and bit boring for me."

Paula - "You seemed a bit tentative... midway through you powered up with your vocal... not sure about your song choice."

Simon - "I think with that song, it’s hard to ask the audience to know what you’re about... this was like "I don’t have a clue." But you could have a good voice."

Sting7 - Then there was Celena. In her defense, Lara Fabian’s version did not have all that Moog in it. I think the band got a wee bit excited, and Celena seemed to have to sing over it! She found her groove about midway through, but for the singers who got no back story thus far, they have to work a little harder to compete with the fan bases that have already started. I’m not sure she made it there.

Mikalah Gordon, "Young Hearts, Run Free"

Randy - "Personality, personality, personality.... you got that going on.... I enjoyed ya!"

Paula - "You are a character... I had fun too... I was rooting for ya... you’re loveable, your goofy and you can sing too."

Simon - "I think half the audience will find you very amusing, and the other half will find you annoying."

Sting7 - Dahling! Simon is sooo correct when he says Mikalah will either seem adorable or annoying as hell. The feedback I’m getting is overwhelmingly the latter. The Black Eyed Peas have a great song with the lyrics, let me see how it goes, oh yeah, "shutup, just shutup shutup, shut it up just shutup shutup." Mikalah, shut up! Just sing. Ask Fantasia, who learned to keep her yap shut when she thought she was being endearing, someone put a bug in her ear that she was annoying folks too. That took her all the way to the top. Vocally, I like Mikalah, but with all we’ve seen, it may be beside the point. She’ll need a knockout performance (and a muzzle), to keep her from being a frequent visitor to the bottom three. Mikalah. I like ya. Shut. Up.

Lindsay Cardinale, "Standing Right Next To Me"

Randy - "I think you’re a better singer than that... take some chances."

Paula - "You do stand out because you have a deep, rich sexy tone... the song you chose didn’t show that."

Simon - "I think you are potentially a good singer, you have to take a risk... you’re better than that song, that was just boring, and you’re not!"

Sting7 - This was the song she first auditioned with (yet Randy acted like he never heard it before… Grrr!), and it’s a Karla Bonoff number. Exactly! Singing a song no one (but me) knows is a big risk! Not a good one. I like Lindsay’s voice and her presence, but this just didn’t work for me at all.

Jessica Sierra, "Against All Odds"

Randy - "I liked it man... I like the kind of husky tone you have."

Paula - "You did something very nice, you commanded the stage, it shows me that you know who you are."

Simon - "I don’t think it was the best we heard you sing, I think you were very nervous tonight... when we saw you in Pasadena we said this girl is potentially very good. I hope you stay in this week."

Sting7 - I have to admit that I’m a bit mystified about what makes Jessica special, but Rashida Johnson had to go home. Didn’t feel anything for this performance. I won’t use Simon’s analogy about hotel lobbies, but it was what I was feeling. Sorry, Jessica.